Société Philharmonique De Montréal

Canadian (Québec) choral and orchestral association founded in August 1875 by Arthur M. Perkins. It first performed in public in May 1877, presenting Handel's Messiah and other works during a three-day Montreal Music Festival. Its first concert on its own, December 17, 1877 at the Academy of Music, included Mendelssohn's 42nd Psalm. The society gave 87 concerts before its dissolution in 1899. It performed at the Academy of Music, Mechanics Hall, the Victoria Skating Rink, Queen's Hall (1880-89) and Windsor Hall (1890-99). In 1982, the name of the society was revived as the Société Philharmonique De Montréal, by Maestro Miklós Takács. Conductor: - 1877-79: Dr P.R. MacLagan (organist at Christ Church Cathedral, then at Zion Church, and later active in Winnipeg). - 1879: Joseph Gould (for one concert, May 28, 1879). - 1879-80: Fred E. Lucy-Barnes. - 1880-99: Guillaume Couture.